Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £210, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 June 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 486 310 312
Rank change year-on-year -176 +2 -11
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 168 237 298
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.33% 0.77% 0.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.35% 0.84% 0.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 129 133 204
10th Percentile £145 £153 £125
25th Percentile £165 £171 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £210 £198
Median % change year-on-year - +6.33% -3.42%
75th Percentile £238 £244 £225
90th Percentile £280 £278 £274
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £205 £200
% change year-on-year +2.44% +2.50% -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 38 36
10th Percentile £16.01 £13.75 £16.63
25th Percentile £19.33 £15.12 £18.13
Median hourly rate £22.00 £17.30 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +27.17% -17.62% -16.00%
75th Percentile £23.50 £28.98 £27.44
90th Percentile £24.65 £33.75 £30.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £23.75 £23.75
% change year-on-year -7.37% - +35.71%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 47,423 28,164 40,143
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.41% 92.05% 92.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,738 18,025 25,769
10th Percentile £325 £288 £283
25th Percentile £415 £401 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,196 1,261 2,867
10th Percentile £15.61 £13.78 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.23 £17.33 £16.50
Median hourly rate £43.00 £27.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.26% -28.00% -12.79%
75th Percentile £67.50 £56.25 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 30 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 30 June 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -170 145 £210 - 22
UK excluding London -143 119 £210 +2.44% 18
London -95 46 £225 +1.93% 9
South East -72 25 £170 -20.93% 8
North of England -92 23 £230 +17.95% 4
South West -62 21 £210 -6.67% 3
Midlands -58 18 £200 +16.67% 1
Scotland -9 16 £213 +15.65%
Work from Home -42 14 £200 -20.00% 2
East of England -25 13 £184 -13.53% 2
Yorkshire -51 12 £230 -2.13% 2
North West -54 11 £233 +40.91% 1
East Midlands -13 9 £200 +16.67%
West Midlands -56 9 £210 -4.55% 1
Northern Ireland 0 3 £175 +6.06%
Wales -17 1 - - 1

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 30 June 2026, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 118 (70.24%) Windows
2 70 (41.67%) Microsoft
3 63 (37.50%) Active Directory
4 62 (36.90%) Microsoft 365
5 43 (25.60%) Customer Service
6 42 (25.00%) Windows 10
7 34 (20.24%) Problem-Solving
8 32 (19.05%) Microsoft Intune
9 30 (17.86%) Azure
9 30 (17.86%) Security Cleared
10 29 (17.26%) ITIL
11 27 (16.07%) SC Cleared
12 23 (13.69%) Asset Management
12 23 (13.69%) SharePoint
13 18 (10.71%) VPN
14 17 (10.12%) Apple
14 17 (10.12%) Mac OS
14 17 (10.12%) SCCM
15 16 (9.52%) Apple iOS
15 16 (9.52%) Entra ID
15 16 (9.52%) ServiceNow
15 16 (9.52%) SLA
16 15 (8.93%) Android
16 15 (8.93%) ITSM
16 15 (8.93%) Migration
16 15 (8.93%) Service Management
17 14 (8.33%) Degree
17 14 (8.33%) Service Delivery
18 12 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
19 11 (6.55%) Continuous Improvement

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 23 (13.69%) SharePoint
2 12 (7.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.60%) Confluence
Applications
1 11 (6.55%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (1.19%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 62 (36.90%) Microsoft 365
2 30 (17.86%) Azure
3 16 (9.52%) Entra ID
4 5 (2.98%) OneDrive
5 4 (2.38%) Google Ads
6 3 (1.79%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.79%) Slack
7 2 (1.19%) Microsoft Copilot
8 1 (0.60%) Google Drive
8 1 (0.60%) IaaS
8 1 (0.60%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 18 (10.71%) VPN
2 9 (5.36%) DHCP
3 8 (4.76%) DNS
3 8 (4.76%) Wireless
4 7 (4.17%) TCP/IP
4 7 (4.17%) Wi-Fi
5 5 (2.98%) LAN
6 2 (1.19%) Firewall
6 2 (1.19%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.60%) Cisco IOS
7 1 (0.60%) IPv4
7 1 (0.60%) Skype
7 1 (0.60%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.60%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (3.57%) JIRA
General
1 63 (37.50%) Social Skills
2 22 (13.10%) Finance
3 12 (7.14%) Organisational Skills
4 10 (5.95%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (5.95%) Banking
5 7 (4.17%) Investment Banking
6 6 (3.57%) Financial Institution
6 6 (3.57%) Spanish Language
6 6 (3.57%) Telecoms
7 3 (1.79%) Law
7 3 (1.79%) Public Sector
8 2 (1.19%) Legal
8 2 (1.19%) Local Government
8 2 (1.19%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.60%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.60%) Front Office
9 1 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.60%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.98%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.60%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 23 (13.69%) Onboarding
2 11 (6.55%) Smartphone
3 9 (5.36%) Self-Motivation
3 9 (5.36%) Video Conferencing
4 8 (4.76%) iPhone
5 7 (4.17%) Driving Licence
5 7 (4.17%) Hedge funds
6 4 (2.38%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (1.79%) Augmented Reality
7 3 (1.79%) iPad
7 3 (1.79%) Virtual Reality
8 2 (1.19%) BYOD
8 2 (1.19%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
9 1 (0.60%) Analytical Mindset
9 1 (0.60%) Mobile App
9 1 (0.60%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 118 (70.24%) Windows
2 42 (25.00%) Windows 10
3 17 (10.12%) Mac OS
4 16 (9.52%) Apple iOS
5 15 (8.93%) Android
6 9 (5.36%) Windows 7
7 5 (2.98%) Windows Server
8 4 (2.38%) Windows XP
9 3 (1.79%) Windows 8
10 2 (1.19%) Linux
11 1 (0.60%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (25.60%) Customer Service
2 34 (20.24%) Problem-Solving
3 29 (17.26%) ITIL
4 23 (13.69%) Asset Management
5 15 (8.93%) ITSM
5 15 (8.93%) Migration
5 15 (8.93%) Service Management
6 14 (8.33%) Service Delivery
7 11 (6.55%) Continuous Improvement
8 10 (5.95%) Inventory Management
8 10 (5.95%) Mobile Device Management
8 10 (5.95%) Root Cause Analysis
9 9 (5.36%) Incident Management
9 9 (5.36%) Logistics
10 8 (4.76%) User Experience
11 7 (4.17%) Break/Fix
11 7 (4.17%) Problem Management
12 6 (3.57%) Application Packaging
12 6 (3.57%) Business Continuity
12 6 (3.57%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 11 (6.55%) PowerShell
2 1 (0.60%) Bash
2 1 (0.60%) Python
Qualifications
1 30 (17.86%) Security Cleared
2 27 (16.07%) SC Cleared
3 14 (8.33%) Degree
4 6 (3.57%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.79%) ITIL Certification
5 3 (1.79%) Microsoft Certified Professional
6 2 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.19%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (9.52%) SLA
System Software
1 63 (37.50%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.57%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.79%) Firmware
3 3 (1.79%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.19%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.60%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.60%) zsh
Systems Management
1 32 (19.05%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (10.12%) SCCM
3 6 (3.57%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.60%) WSUS
Vendors
1 70 (41.67%) Microsoft
2 17 (10.12%) Apple
3 16 (9.52%) ServiceNow
4 11 (6.55%) HP
5 8 (4.76%) Starlink
6 7 (4.17%) McAfee
7 6 (3.57%) Citrix
8 5 (2.98%) Google
9 4 (2.38%) Dell
10 3 (1.79%) Bloomberg
10 3 (1.79%) Remedy
10 3 (1.79%) VMware
11 1 (0.60%) Adobe
11 1 (0.60%) BMC
11 1 (0.60%) Cisco
11 1 (0.60%) Meraki
11 1 (0.60%) MobileIron
11 1 (0.60%) Nexthink
11 1 (0.60%) Salesforce
11 1 (0.60%) Samsung